Little things

Again, I have really not been in the mood to blog lately, but Cael is doing so many cute things that I feel compelled to post about them even if I don't have any pictures.

'Uh oh': About a month ago, I was taking a shower and Cael was playing at my feet when he accidentally knocked one of the bottles onto the floor. He seemed to say something and at first I didn't think anything of it, but after he said it a couple of times I finally figured out he was saying 'uh oh'. Now it is one of his favorite things to say and he says it ALL the time even if there really isn't an 'uh oh' to speak of. I absolutely love it when I knock something over or drop something and he will say 'uh oh' as if to acknowledge that Mommy makes mistakes too. HILARIOUS!! It really is too cute for words.

DVD player: We have a DVD player in the Veracruz and on our recent trip to Winter Park Cael watched a Baby Einstein video the entire way up the mountain. I wasn't sure if it really helped him on the 2 hour ride, but all I know is he was quiet and seemed entertained. Imagine my surprise when we were driving home from work/daycare and Cael pointed at the DVD player and signaled that he wanted me to play a video (not using sign language, but in such a way that I knew what he wanted). I don't know why, but I thought it was great. I guess it makes me feel like he is finally turning into a little boy as opposed to a baby (and I suppose there is a part of me that hopes the DVD player or TV will provide Ryan and I with a bit of much needed relief). Either way, too cute and now we can use the DVD player and TV as another tool to teach Cael about many different things (colors, words, animals, etc).

Pregnancy: I know I originally mentioned that this pregnancy seemed relatively easy. However, having posted that several weeks ago, I now feel like this pregnancy is harder than Cael's both mentally and emotionally, but I am not sure if having a 15 month old to contend with makes a difference. I feel more crazy (like my emotions have a mind of their own) and I feel like I am more nauseous this time around. Regardless, I am feeling confident as I round out my first trimester that things will start looking up (at least in the nauseous department) and I CANNOT wait (neither can Ryan for that matter)!!!!! Everything looks great so far in terms of measurements, activity, heartbeat, etc. I actually feel more calm with this pregnancy than I did when I was pregnant with Cael in terms of worrying about what I am eating, the genetic testing, etc. I am more at peace and trust me when I say that is a very good thing!

No more bottles!!

Friday night: This past weekend, I decided to attempt weaning Cael from his bed time bottle. After much analyzing and fretting, I decided to just give him a warm sippy cup of milk and see how things went. Ryan was actually out of town skiing in Winter Park for a Wells Fargo charity event, but I had made up my mind that this was going to be the weekend that we eliminated ALL bottles (it probably had something to do with the fact that Cael's 15 month appointment is on 3/9 and the doctor was adamant that we have him weaned by 15 months). I gave him dinner and he hardly ate anything, which worried me given that he drinks approximately 7-9 oz. of milk before going to bed and he wouldn't be getting that extra 'food' this time. With a heavy heart I started up the stairs, sippy cup in hand, changed him and sat down to read him a story. After I was done, I gave him the sippy cup and waited anxiously to see what he would do. He promptly took a drink and stopped, took another drink and stopped again as if he was confused as to why warm milk was coming out of his sippy cup and why he wasn't getting a bottle as was custom. He didn't really want anything more to do with the sippy so I said good night, put him in his crib and walked out of the room. He cried/fussed for about 5 minutes and fell asleep. He slept all night and woke up at 5:00, which I assume was because he was hungry. He fussed again for a few minutes and fell back asleep until 6. WOOHOO!!!!

Saturday night: With his participation in the Wells Fargo charity event, Ryan had been given three free nights in Winter Park, CO and Saturday afternoon after Cael's nap, we headed up the mountain to meet up with Daddy! I was nervous about how the weaning would go given we would be in a new environment and in a hotel. If Cael cried, I worried that other people in the hotel would hear him through the thin walls. Basically, I just worried. Ryan took him into the bedroom, changed him and read him a story and then put him down in the pack n' play. Cael cried for a bit longer, but fell asleep and slept until 7:30 the next morning.

Sunday night: Once again, no bottle and this time he hardly drank anything from the sippy cup so I am thinking that we won't even need to give him that before bedtime. Just read to him (or sing) and put him down in his crib.

His bedtime is 7:30, but I am wondering if now we won't push bedtime back a little to maybe 8:00 just to see if that helps things. Either way, bottle weaning is complete and was not only fairly easy, but a total success!!!!

Gender speculation

I went to the doctor's office yesterday to have some blood drawn and for an ultrasound. After the ultrasound tech finished her examination I asked her if there was any way she could determine the sex of the baby since I am only 12 weeks (when I was pregnant with Cael we had an ultrasound tech tell us we were having a boy at 12 weeks). She said she would be more than happy to take a look, but made me promise I would not rush out any buy anything based on her prediction. I happily complied and waited with bated breath as she began moving the wand over my stomach. Within approximately 10 seconds she announced she was fairly certain it was a girl. It was interesting because she didn't appear to base her assumption solely on genitalia, but mentioned that there was a distinct difference (although minute) between boys and girls at 12 weeks gestation and based on her experience, our baby looked like a girl. I have been convinced we are having a boy for the last couple of weeks so having this information will make the 20 week ultrasound that much more interesting. I have another ultrasound on April 2nd so stay tuned!!

Cael at the beach

I think from the minute we arrived in Florida we have all been anticipating Cael's first trip to the beach. The weather the last couple of days hasn't exactly been beach friendly, but finally yesterday, we had blue skies, warm breezes and lots of sunshine. After Cael woke up from his nap we were off and running in our newest adventure. The minute his toes hit sand, he was in baby heaven. He would grab a handful and let it gently fall through his fingers. He threw it into the air, put it into his mouth and rolled around in it laughing and giggling like only a toddler can! He loved watching the sea gulls and would point and say 'bird' (of course it came out sounding more like 'ba', which could be anything at this point, but I prefer to think he was saying bird). He didn't like the water at first and the minute his feet touched the cold water (colder than he was used to), he would start to cry. However, after he saw Daddy out playing in the waves he grew more brave and was soon wading his way out into the water (with Mommy and Bapa's supervision of course). We played in the sand, searched for seashells and enjoyed the warm breeze in our hair. It was a great experience!! Cael had so much fun and loves the water so much, Ryan and I joked about moving to Florida, but it is not going to happen. Florida is a great place to visit, but we wouldn't want to live here :) Special thanks to Kim (Gam) for her behind the scenes work with her camera. She really captured the memories perfectly!

Destination Florida

Ryan, Cael and I flew to Florida yesterday morning to visit Dad and Kim (Gam). The flight was three hours direct from Denver to Orlando followed by an hour and a half drive to the house they are renting for the next couple of months.Cael was a little trooper despite having had no nap and barely eating anything all day (his choice, not for a lack of trying on our part). He did start to finally melt down in the car about 5 minutes before we pulled into the drive way, but a quick dip in the pool immediately erased all signs of unhappiness. He would have spent all evening in the splashing and floating in the water if things like dinner, unpacking and bedtime hadn't gotten in the way. The weather was balmy and gorgeous with the temperature registering 83 degrees on the drive from the airport to the house. Suffice it to say, we are loving it here!!!

Denver Kids Expo

I have been meaning to post this video for weeks! We went to the Denver Kids Expo about a month ago because I thought it would be fun for Cael and good for all of us to get out of the house. The advertisements made it sound like it would be fun for kids of ALL ages, but what they should have said was kids ages 2+. Regardless, we made the best of it and ended up enjoying ourselves even though it wasn't exactly what we thought it would be.

Blog updates

I have been a horrible blogger lately. Between work, which is crazy and the first trimester (feeling tired ALL the time), I have not had it in me to post anything. I just wanted to write a brief post to let everyone know what is going on in our world:

1) The pregnancy is progressing wonderfully and I feel weak anytime I complain about being tired or feeling nauseous because I know there are other women out there who have had it MUCH worse than me. Cael was a relatively easy pregnancy and I feel blessed to say that so far this one seems to be following suit. My only complaints are having to eat every 20 minutes and needing to go to bed every night at 8:00 just to feel remotely rested. Well, I have other complaints, but suffice it to say those are the only important ones related to the pregnancy!

2) I have had several people ask me about when I am going to start a blog for Baby #2. I have decided that the easiest thing to do is to turn this blog into more of a family blog rather than trying to maintain two different ones at the same time. So over time you will see some changes as I try to incorporate more about Ryan and I into things as well as discussions about the baby both now and after he/she is born!

That is it for now. I am sure I am missing something or a lot, but hopefully I will be back in the blogging mood soon!!!

Nebulizer

On Monday I took Cael into the doctor's office because he had a nasty cough and was pulling at his ears so I wanted to make sure he didn't have an ear infection. After looking at his ears and assuring me they were clear they listened to his lungs. They heard some crackling and popping and after looking at his red throat determined he had a viral infection and that therefore antibiotics wouldn't do any good in terms of making him better. They opted to try hooking him up to a nebulizer (think inhaler for toddlers), which contained a mask full of medicine that he needed to wear for 7 minutes so he would inhale the medicine. HA! Obviously, they don't realize what that means for a 14 month old and his mom. He HATED it and I swear those 7 minutes were the longest minutes of my life. However, the nebulizer was doing it's job and the second time they listened his lungs sounded more clear so they sent us home with our new toy! FUN!!We have been using it every day and he has gotten much better about letting us administer the medicine (with the help of Grandma and Grandpa who are in town visiting - they do a great job of keeping him occupied). He still has a nasty cough accompanied with a fever and a lot of drainage, but hopefully, after the weekend, he will be back to his normal self. The doctor did ask about whether or not asthma runs in the family, which it doesn't. She said that the wheezing could be an early indication and that we would need to keep a close eye on him in the future. Kind of scary, but I have a good feeling that he will remain asthma free!

Announcement

Sometimes a picture is worth more than a thousand words: